Investment seeks science dividend

By Paul Rincon
BBC News Online science staff

Extra large telescopes are in the pipeline

Britain will need to find hundreds of millions of pounds to join the next decade's great scientific projects.

The UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council says early investment will earn British researchers prime use of some important future facilities.

One such programme is the world's most powerful particle accelerator which will unravel the secrets of matter.

Another would be a giant 30-metre-plus telescope capable of seeing some of the most distant objects in the Universe.

Grand plan

The accelerator facility, known as the Next Generation Linear Collider (NGLC), has not yet been sketched out in detail, but is in the pipeline, according to the council, PParc.

It will follow on the heels of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland, which is currently under construction.

PParc committed itself to building two general purpose detectors for this facility in its five-year strategic plan, launched on Tuesday, but already the council is looking further into the future.

"The world of particle physics is now getting together to say: 'well what happens after the LHC?'" said a spokesman for PParc.

"The answer is a single machine, located somewhere in the world. We've already put some R&D money to further develop [the NGLC]; we would like some more.

"The UK wants to be in there when this thing gets scoped," the spokesman added.

Accelerators smash atoms together and look at the debris to learn about the particle building blocks of the Universe. Increasingly higher energies are required to see the finest detail - but these giant facilities come at a price.

The NGLC is likely to cost billions to construct and run. PParc believes early investment by the UK will push British interests to the fore when the world facility comes online.

More physicists

The same was true, it said, of any of the next-generation telescopes that have mirrors measuring 35m or more across.

These instruments will allow astronomers to see the objects that are too faint to be observed by current technologies.

There are already tentative plans for a European telescope 100m across, but PParc suggested a telescope with a mirror of intermediate size was a possibility. "Discoveries of extrasolar planets appeared from investment made many years ago. I believe we're delivering the science and technology that is crucial to our time and I believe it will have big commercial value," said Professor Ian Halliday, chief executive of PParc.

PParc also said building on the success of the Mars lander, Beagle 2, currently en route to the Red Planet, was a priority, and stressed the UK needed to be involved in many more high-profile European Space Agency (Esa) projects.

The UK had built up an expertise in robotic spacecraft, such as the Smart 1 lunar probe, and this needed to be extended, it added.

"We need to make sure that science and technology are on the agenda, to make sure the benefits of science are given not just to people in our country but to the whole world," said Dr Ian Gibson MP, chair of the House of Commons select committee for science and technology.

He stressed the need to win over the public as well.

"We thought with GM crops that all you had to do is talk about something and the public would seize on it.

"We've learned the hard way that if something is done with public money - whether it's to improve the world or understand the planets - we have to tell the public what the benefits might be. We can't take it for granted now," said Dr Gibson.

The council underlined its commitment to deliver the project known as the Grid, which harnesses worldwide computing power for analysing data.

It also promised to boost postgraduate studentship numbers by up to 50% over the next 10 years, to increase the output of trained scientists and engineers.